Clint Eastwood directs and stars as Red Stovall, a roguish Depression-era singer who is battling the bottle and tuberculosis when he gets an invitation to audition for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. A has-been who never was, he leaves Oklahoma with nephew Whit (Eastwood's son Kyle) along to help keep the car on the road and Red on the straight and narrow. Along their picaresque journey they encounter Western swing pioneer Bob Wills (Johnny Gimble), a talented blues singer (Linda Hopkins), and other colorful characters as Marty Robbins, Ray Price, John Anderson, and Lefty Frizzell provide sympathetic accompaniment to this 1982 film.